Desolation of a nation is caused by its ruler breaking away from following the LORD’s sociopolitical laws as detailed in the Mosaic law. These are not arbitrary “religious rules”, but exactly like laws of nature inevitably lead to enthalpy – stability – when bolstered by energy input, or entropy – order breakdown, becoming “a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant.” (Jeremiah 44:22)
History provides an endless list of just such circumstances caused by evil rulers sucking dry the resources of his people without any compensatory input to maintain stability. The following is just one example.
“Ahaz…reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and…he walked in the way of the kings of Israel
- made his son to pass through the fire,
- sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places,
- sent messengers to Tiglathpileser king of Assyria [human embodiment of a pagan god] saying, I am thy servant and thy son:
- took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria.
- saw an altar that was at Damascus: and [had] Urijah the priest built an altar [just like it]
- and the king [personally] offered thereon [as the priest/incarnation of the pagan god]
- And he brought also the brazen altar, which was before the LORD, from [its rightful place] and put it …to enquire by [a pagan practice as a seer of the future, most likely by haruspication]
- And…the king’s entry…turned he from the house of the LORD for the god-king of Assyria [in order for him to take in all the life during the sacrificial ceremonies].” (II Chronicles 28)
And once evil incarnate is up and running it’s a chainsaw massacre. Assyria turned on Judea like the prototype Nazi mass murderer he was.
This concept is the logical climax of the historically-grounded Game of Throne series, and the prototype Desolation on God’s people when Babylonian Empire besieged and utterly destroyed Jerusalem including Solomon’s magnificent Temple, and the Jews were scattered to all the nations in the empire.
Israeli philosopher and Biblical scholar Yehezkel Kaufmann said “The exile is the watershed. With the exile, the religion of Israel comes to an end and Judaism begins.“
However, Ezekiel, Daniel, Ezra and many others in the diaspora continued to preach repentance and restoration according to the law of Moses – and to warn of judgment.
“For the overspreading of abominations he / The [False] Prince That Shall Come shall make [the sanctuary] desolate.” (Daniel 9:26-27)
“And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to enquire of the LORD, and sat before me.” (Ezekiel 20)
We can deduce that at this 7th year (vs 7th day) sabbath the elders were asking “Are we there yet?” They had obviously been keeping score of their judgement for having failed to “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy…in it thou shalt not do any work [for profit].” (Exodus 20:8-10), “Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees…for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath”]” (II Chronicles 36)
The 10th day of the 5th month, “Tisha b’Av” in Hebrew, is still kept as a day of fasting and mourning to remember the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC, and then again by the Romans in 70 AD.
And God’s response was basically
Are. You. KIDDING. ME!!!
“Are ye come to enquire of me? As I live…I will not be enquired of by you!
Wilt thou [Ezekiel] judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? cause them to know the abominations of their fathers.
And God rants on and on. Read the chapter for yourself.
Then said I, Ah LORD God! they say of me, [What are you talking about?] Doth he not speak parables?” (Ezekiel 20)
They don’t get it because they haven’t read the book, but Daniel has read the book, and not just someone’s CliffsNotes version, so he gets a straight answer when he asks the LORD about the time frame.
“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to anoint the MOST Holy.”
The seventy weeks are broken up into time periods like the trimesters of a mother’s pregnancy.
- from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah / God’s Anointed the Prince / Zerubbabel governor of Judah shall be seven WEEKS [49 years]…the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times
This was accomplished by Nehemiah.
“Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the offices thereof. In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves…also wine, grapes, and figs…fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem.
Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath…I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day.” (Nehemiah 13:14-19)
The Davidic dynasty continued as head of Babylonian Jewry, called the “Rosh Galut” (exil-arch / head of exile with Shealtiel. His heir, Zerubbabel, could only return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple of the God / El / Power Source by permission of the Persian King Cyrus.
Both Arab and Jewish records show a continuous presence of the Rosh Galut / Exil-arch for 1,500 years in what is now Iraq, ending in the eleventh century AD, and after that time records of individuals who went with the title (albeit without any power) in Seder Olam Zuta, and Iggeret Rav Sherira Gaon.
The exilarch / king in exile had political authority to judge and penalize his people according to their Jewish law, manage commerce, and collect taxes. This role is also carried out by the leader of the Druze religion from this same time period who also returned to the land of Israel. More information on the post detailing the tribe of Dan.
Back in Israel, the Jews who returned created a rival position similar to the exilarch, the nasi (“prince”), which was at times recognized by the Roman government, such as King Herod.
But not by the LORD God.
And threescore and two weeks…after [62 x 7 = 434 years shall Messiah
- be cut off, but not for himself…
- severed from relationship with the nation of, ergo the God of, Israel, but not for his sins – for the sins of others.
- And confirm the covenant with many for one week
- of promised redemption with many in the 3 1/2 years of his earthly ministry until
- and in the midst of the [last] week [3 1/2 years before the end] he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease
- and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate,” (Daniel 9)
- “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees…ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers…Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” (Matthew 23:29-38)
Jesus is quoting directly from II Chronicles 36:14-19)
“all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers…But they…despised his words, and misused his prophets…till there was no remedy. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees…he gave them all into his hand…And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire.”
There are at least 3 1/2 years left to play out in the original 70 x 7 years’ judgment on Israel. And Jesus uses every minute of grace period for to win over the rulers of the Jews.
“And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.” (Acts 6:7)
One exceptional Pharisee in particular.
And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people…And they caught him, and brought him to the council…he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.”
Stephen’s vision of Yeshua standing, poised for lift-off, signifies that YHVH’s Savior was prepared to return to earth at this time if the rulers repented and accepted him as their savior.
“Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him…And Saul was consenting unto his death.” (Acts 6:8-8:1)
This completely wraps up the timeline of Daniel’s prophecy as the 490 years is completed.
Jesus could have returned if his covenanted rulers and gotten in line behind him.
But, no. So another period of chastisement.
“behold, I send unto YOU – personally – prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them YE shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall YE scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon YOU may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel…Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon THIS GENERATION. (Matthew 23:34-36)
The Roman historian Tacitus simply says “all was quiet” in reference to Judea during the years of the Emperor Tiberius from ad 14 to 37. But that began to sour in ad 40 when Emperor Caligula departed from the policy of religious tolerance exercised by his predecessors. The chain of events over the next 26 years ultimately led to the ascendency of the Zealot party.
[Caligula] demanded that a statue of himself be placed for worship in the Temple at Jerusalem…The Jews replied that…he must first sacrifice the entire Jewish nation; and that they presented themselves, their wives and their children, ready for the slaughter,” wrote Josephus. Caligula was murdered in the interim and the matter was dropped…
[Then] In May ad 66, a Gentile mob had profaned a synagogue in Caesarea…Similar provocations had taken place in the previous decade; for example, Roman soldiers had exposed their buttocks to Jewish pilgrims. They also had seized and burned sacred Jewish scrolls…
In a clear example of the brutal repression in Judea exercised by the Romans, Florus ordered his soldiers to the southwest market area of the city with instructions to slay indiscriminately those they encountered. “There followed a flight through the narrow streets, the slaughter of those who were caught, and rapine in all its horror,” [the Jewish historian Josephus] wrote…
Almost immediately, Jewish radicals calling for revolution took control of the Temple. They suspended the daily sacrifice for the well-being of the Roman emperor and the people of Rome…an overt act of rebellion as far as the Romans were concerned…
the conservative faction, meanwhile, fled to Agrippa’s palace, along with the 500 auxiliaries Florus had left in the city…
Emperor Nero sent General Vespasian with troops to restore order under the conservative faction.
Get it? This is the abomination that causes desolation! Yet another episode in the series of alliance with ungodly military power.
Over the next few years the troops were simply encamped at Jerusalem as a deterrent to acts of terrorism by radicals, but in 68 AD Nero was killed (either by his own hand or assassinated, who was there to say?) and World War broke out among four contenders for the throne.
Vespasian (like Eisenhower) fought his way to the top on his ability to restore peace. He gave his son command of the Judea campaign along with four legions totaling 60,000 troops…supported by a force of 16,000 noncombatants responsible for supply and logistics…Waiting for the Romans in Jerusalem were 23,400 troops:
Simon bar Giora was the leader of one of the major Judean rebel factions.
Acclaimed by the people as their savior and guardian, with fifteen thousand soldiers at hand Simon soon controlled the whole upper city and some of the lower city…Factions fought vigorously over the control of Jerusalem, always trying to destroy each other’s grain stores to starve each other into submission. This internal fighting later proved disastrous… evertheless, of the leaders of the rebellion, Simon in particular was regarded with reverence and awe. By his authority, coins were minted declaring the redemption of Zion…
When Jerusalem fell to Titus, Simon was treated as the king he represented himself to be, taken to Rome as a spoil of war, paraded naked in the Triumph, and executed. A Roman coin commemorating the desolation was minted, replacing Simon’s false claim of redemption.
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem / leadership!, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children / the general population together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!…YE / leadership shall not see me henceforth, till YE / Mosaic leadership shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the LORD.” (Matthew 23:29-39)
Kingdom Come 